Taking cookbooks off the shelf & onto my table, one recipe at a time.

On our recent trip to Laughlin for a rare two nights away from our young boys, my hubby and I went out for dinner at Outback. Of course we ordered the Bloomin’ Onion as an appetizer to go with our beers, but then I went for something a little lighter for dinner than usual – the Filet Focaccia Sandwich, which happens to come with Roasted Garlic Herb Aioli on the heavenly toasty bread, as well as a super tasty au jus sauce for dipping. I committed to memory the “stuff” that went into making such an awesomely unbelievable tasting sandwich, and decided to take a crack at making it at home. I was beyond stoked to see that my favorite place, RecipeZaar, already has the copycat recipe for the aioli. Figuring out the rest would be up to me, but since I’ve made roasts before, I was up to the task.

For the meat part, I ended up using a tri-tip roast since we don’t usually have spare filet mignons lying around. Tri-tip is common out here in Southern California, where I live, but I’ve read here that it is called Newport Steak back East (and although I’m not wild about thinking of the actual part of the moo-moo that this comes from, a graphic on that site says it’s bottom round). Anyhoo – I marinaded the roast in the fridge for about an hour or so with a mixture of a couple tablepoons of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Herbes de Provence (my favorite brand is Victoria Gourmet but it is available out here in CA at stores like Marshall’s, Ross, TJ Maxx, etc.) After marinading, I cooked til it was mostly un-pink, but you do whatever floats your proverbial pink boat.

The only thing left to do is to get some pre-baked, ready to go focaccia bread from your favorite store or bakery, cut it into sandwich sized pieces and then toast or broil (cut sides up, if broiling) til golden brown. After they’ve cooled a bit, slather on some of this scrumptious aioli (so it doesn’t melt into the bread), slap on some slices of the roast, a couple slices of Provolone, and dig in, with a small bowl of au jus on the side, just in case your tastebuds need an extra kick.